


Delirium

by Groot_the_tree



Series: Whumptober 2019 [3]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Comfort, Delirium, Drpepperony - Freeform, F/M, Fever Dreams, Hurt Stephen Strange, M/M, Nightmares, Sickfic, Stephen Strange & Wong Friendship, Whump, Whumptober, pepper and tony take care of him, stephen is sick, whumptober2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-23 00:15:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20883020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Groot_the_tree/pseuds/Groot_the_tree
Summary: Stephen has been working hard recently so Pepper and Tony aren't surprised when he comes home at 3am. What does surprise them is how warm he is.





	Delirium

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this is. Is this delirium?

Stephen had been working nonstop lately, constantly out and gone, coming back late, only to stick around for a few minutes and being gone again. Tony and Pepper were both worried about him, to say the least. They both knew it was going to be difficult when they asked him into their relationship but they hadn’t expected this, not that it was changing how they felt about him, they still loved him, they just wished they had more time with him. 

It only made it harder for them that they never knew where he was, always gone but never to places he could tell them or, if he did, they still didn’t understand. Multiverse and dimensions were hard to keep up with, neither of them knew how Stephen done it.

So they weren’t surprised when he stumbles into their room though a portal one night or, shall we say, morning. It was about three am and both Pepper and surprisingly Tony as well, were asleep. 

Groggily, Tony sat up and squints, hair sticking up at all angles. “Stephen?” He asks, knowing who it was if his brain would just wake up a little more. Slowly he gets out of bed and moves over, wrapping his arms around the man, surprised at how warm he was. “You’re burning up.” He mumbles, “Shower and to bed, come on.” He says, slowly pushing Stephen to the bathroom.

It wasn’t long before Pepper had joined behind them, having heard Tony talking. “Warm?” She asked Tony, “Is he sick?” The concern was noticeable in her voice as she looks to Stephen who had yet to talk but was rocking back and forth on his feet as though about to fall over. She wraps her arm around him, leading him over and sitting him on the toilet, closed of course. 

As Tony gets the water ready, deciding on a bath instead of a shower for fear Stephen would fall if he hand to stand for too long, Pepper set about checking Stephen’s temperature. This wasn’t an easy task though as he was fighting, trying to get away from her and keeping his mouth firmly shut, as though he was terrified of the little stick. 

Pepper looks at him, a little confused by his actions. “There’s nothing to be afraid of Steph.” She says, holding the thermometer up so he can see what it is. 

Stephen hums a no, still pushing away from her, sitting as far back as possible, mouth shut tightly. 

Pepper gives up and puts it away, the knew he had a fever and apparently that was all he wanted them to know. 

When the water was ready Tony came over to start getting the robes of him, with Peppers help. Stephen was bigger than either of them so for one to try with no help from the man himself was very difficult. 

Though this task turned from difficult to impossible as Stephen clearly didn’t want to be undressed, putting up a shield to keep them from being able to reach him with a simple, “Nope.” And, was that a smile? 

They both sigh. 

“Come on Stephen. You like baths.” Tony says softly, feeling like he’s talking to a child rather than his boyfriend, “We just want to get you in the bath, you have…inter-dimensional monster juice all over you.” He says, realizing the bluish purple goo covering him for the first time. He looks down, remembering the hug he had given him with he first came home and, yup, he’s covered in it too. 

“I’ll even join you.” He offers, needing it get it off him as well. 

Stephen stops the fighting, seemingly considering this offer. Slowly, he drops the shield. “Bath with the pretty boy.” He says, smiling brightly, a bit of a laugh escapes him before turning into a harsh cough.

Tony rolls his eyes fondly at the cough before standing and helping Stephen stand up. “Now can we both help you with these robes? For the bath?” He asks, smiling when the other man finally accepts help.

Together, Tony and Pepper manage to get the robes off him and get him into the back before Tony strips down and joins him. 

While they’re in the bath, pepper goes to make some tea for Stephen and get them both some clean clothes for bed, they were going to be needing them after all. 

As she works she can hear Tony struggling with Stephen, trying to get him to bath and stop doing whatever he was doing, she almost didn’t want to know. Then hearing Stephen having another coughing fit, she winces.

When she comes back in they’re both getting out and drying off, waiting for her to come back in.

Once again it takes them both to put Stephen’s pajamas on him and get him into bed. Pepper reaches him the tea when he’s settled. 

He takes it but looks down into it and makes a face before looking at her. “Poison.” He states, calmly, before tilting his head, looking from her to Tony. “Why are you both trying to kill me?” It wasn’t angry, only curious, as though this was all completely normal. 

“It’s not poison and we’re not trying to kill you.” Pepper says softly, taking the cup and taking a drink before handing it back to him, just to prove that it’s safe. This was definitely not how Stephen acts. 

He nods and, without any other questions, drinks the tea before handing the empty cup back. He lays down and automatically falls asleep. 

Pepper sits the cup to the side and looks to the awake man. “Do you think we should call Wong?” She asks, “I mean we have no idea what this is or what he’s been into.”

Tony sighs, looking at him. “It’s probably just exhaustion. I mean he hasn’t been taking the best care of himself. When was the last time he even slept?” He asks, “I think we should just wait for the morning. If it’s any worse, we’ll call him.” 

Pepper nods and they both lay down in plans of going to sleep. 

—

It’s a couple hours later, about daylight when they’re both woke up by screaming. 

Tony sits straight up, there was a time when this would mean him waking up and suiting up automatically, not now though. He’s far too used to Stephen having nightmares and waking him up. Though it’s not usually with screaming and that’s the scary part. 

Quickly he looks over to the man, seeing Pepper do the same. 

Stephen was staring at one of the darker corners of the room, eyes wide and full body shaking. He was sweating profusely and clearly terrified of whatever he saw there. There was nothing there, Tony checked and if there was anything he would have been notified. 

Carefully he lays his hand on Stephen’s shoulder, only to have him flinch and pull away. “There’s nothing there Steph.” He says softly, quietly asking FRIDAY to turn the lights low so Stephen could see. 

It takes a few minutes but slowly he calms down, one the lights are on, seeing there was nothing there. After a bit longer he lays back down, his breathing getting more controlled. 

It was a surprisingly short time after that that he falls back asleep and this time the other two stayed up to watch him. An attempt to make sure he’s okay and not going to get that bad again. 

Other than the occasional mumble about aliens or tentacles he’s not awake again for many more hours. 

—

When he does wake again it was to Wong, Pepper and Tony sitting around him. 

“What’s going on?” He asks, a lot more aware than he had been since he came home the night before.

“Just you being Doctor Idiot.” Wong replied. “I mean I’ve heard that doctors were the most stubborn patients but I thought they were at least supposed to know that sleep was necessary to live.” 

Tony rolls his eyes, “Honestly Stephenie, take a break sometime and just take care of yourself would you?” He asks.

Stephen looks at them, confused. “I don’t even know when I got here, you’re going to have to explain more that that.” He states, coughing a little.

Pepper decides to step in a that point, it was clear the other two wasn’t going to do it properly. “You came home late last night and were burning up and a little delirious. We called Wong over this morning when we didn’t know what else to do. We thought it was something magic, but no, just you being stupid and not taking proper care of yourself.” She says, kindness in her words, even calling him stupid sounded fond. She runs his fingers through his hair. 

He nods a little, “Okay.” He says, sounding a little suspicious of what he was being told. “I’m going to go back to sleep now.” 

And sleep he did.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, don't be afraid to leave a comment... I feel like that just scares people away.


End file.
